Romola Garai on potential distortions of an acting career
What choices and compromises do you make to gain attention and opportunities as an actor?
Romola Garai has expressed a number of thoughtful perspectives on these topics. Here are some quotes from her imdb.com profile.
On Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights :
“I wouldn’t have done something that I thought had no merit in it at all, but I did experience a fall-out from being calculating about your career, believing that you should do something in order to get you somewhere else. It was just creatively unfulfilling.”
“The filmmakers were obsessed with having someone skinny. I just thought, why didn’t they get someone like Kate Bosworth, if that’s what they wanted? An actress like that wouldn’t worry about whether or not the political ideas were being sensitively or subtly dealt with. They’d do the job, smile and look pretty on the cover of Teen Vogue. There I am, 135 pounds and trying to make art! I was so wrong for it!”
”I had the time of my life. I have used every part of my body, plus muscles I did not know I had, because the dancing is a combination of salsa and Latin ballroom. It felt like daily aerobics.”
On the Vanity Fair premiere: “I [showed] my tits and teeth. I’m useless at it. About 40 per cent of success as an actor is now based on whether you’re good at being interviewed and how you conduct yourself. And I’m really bad at that.”
More on being an actor :
“When I was a child I always wanted to be funny and to please people in my family. As you grow up that instinct becomes more refined, but it’s still there. How can it not be? I just don’t believe you’re capable of being an actor unless you have a desire to experience your emotions in a public way.”
“It’s too simplistic to say that people start to believe what’s written about them. But what happens is that you become a certain way to please people, to be liked, to be what’s expected of you, to change yourself so that you become the best possible version of yourself for people who don’t know you.
“And I think that’s a terrible, pernicious thing.”
[Photo: Romola Garai as Emma Woodhouse in "Emma"]
acting performance, acting self esteem, acting passion, entertainment psychology, actors training, personal development for actors
01.24.10 | 
Get more information and resources in the Developing Talent Newsletter
Personal Growth Products / Programs
Anxiety Relief Programs.
Related Articles
Comment | Trackback
February 22nd, 2010 at 4:17 pm
If you are suffering from or need to improve your self confidence you should watch The Biggest Loser. Make a note of how the contestants talk about themselves and their body language. Then watch them change it is absolutely amazing, take inspiration from them.